


Foxhole

by RocketKat123



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, Set in 1800s, Very AU, danny is a full ghost
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-09-25 11:09:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9817457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RocketKat123/pseuds/RocketKat123
Summary: Sam once again turned back to the earthen hole and peered down into it. For a second she saw something flicker in its depths and leaned down, squinting to get a better look. She gasped when she felt the earth give way underneath her hand. As Sam felt herself lurch forward into the hole, a scream tore out of her throat.





	1. The Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, hello there! So I've been thinking about this idea for quite some time and I've finally gotten around to writing it. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Samantha Manson looked gloomily out the window of the carriage at the foggy morning. Samantha, or as she preferred, Sam, was considered by many of her peers to be strange, and they would be right. Her quirks simply drove her mother to madness on some occasions. For example, she preferred the shortening of her name mostly because her mother hated it, though originally it was because 'Samantha' sounded too stuffy to her. Unfortunately just about the only person who would call her Sam was her grandmother and the few people she knew that lived outside of her world of high society. She envied them to a degree. It must be nice not to be forced into garments intent on strangling you or being dragged around to stuffy events such as the one she was headed to at the moment.

The girl's mother, Pamela Manson, noticed her daughter's brooding. In an attempt to comfort her, she reached a hand out and patted Sam's knee. "It'll be all right, Samantha dear. You'll see."

"Easy for you to say. You're not marrying that cad," Ida Manson, Sam's grandmother from her father's side said without looking up from her knitting.

"Oh, hush, mother, it's not as if we have a choice. Our company is dying," Pamela defended.

"It's hardly fair to let the weight of our family's finances on the shoulders of a fourteen year old girl," Ida retorted.

Sam looked away from the window only to send an glare to her mother and grandmother. "Would you two stop talking about me as if I'm not even here?"

"Sorry Sammy," her grandmother said. "I was just trying to defend you from this horrible thing your mother is putting you through."

Pamela huffed. "You two act as if it's the end of the world. I was in an arranged marriage, and I loved Thurston. It's not as if I asked for any of this to happen," she said, a bitter tone entering her voice.

The matter was immediately dropped after that. Ida went back to her knitting and Sam continued to stare out the window. It was as if by the mention of Thurston's death, even indirectly, crushed down both Sam's and her grandmother's will to fight.

The carriage was deathly silent all the way to the party.

Soon, the mansion of her betrothed came into view, and Sam's stomach clenched at the sight of it. It looked more like a moselium than a place to live, with its gray stone walls and large yawning arches that looked as if they could be mouths ready to swallow you up.

When the carriage stopped, Sam stepped out with shaking knees, followed by her mother then her grandmother.

It wasn't her wedding at least, but she knew the person she would have to marry would propose to her at this event. Of course even the proposal had to be public, everything in high society had to be publicized and spectacular.

As she walked through the gates into the party, smiling faces greeted her, some faked, some mischievous and knowing. No doubt there were rumors swirling around of Dashiell's proposal at this very party.

Sam's stomach clenched at the though of that damnable boy. She had only known him for a month, yet she already hated him more than she had ever hated anyone. He was pompous, spoilt, and egotistical. What was not to hate? The only reason her mother (because Sam didn't believe that her mother completely hated her) even thought of him as a suitor was because his family was more wealthy than their family ever had been.

An accented voice called out from the crowd, pulling Sam from her venomous thoughts. She turned around to see bright sea green eyes. They belonged to a very beautiful face, one much more beautiful than hers, in her own opinion, but then again, Sam didn't particularly care about her appearance. The beautiful green eyes and face belonged to none other than Paulina Sanchez. Her father was a wealthy merchant from Spain that had moved with his daughter to England only a few years ago. Her parents had introduced Sam to the Spanish girl shortly after her arrival to Great Britain. The Sanchez family visited often and Paulina and Sam often chatted. And yet Sam hated her almost as much as Dashiell.

"Samantha! Have you heard?" the Spanish girl whispered conspiratorially.

"Heard what?" she said in a board tone.

There was a twinkle in Paulina's eye that told Sam that it had something to do with Dashiell's proposal, not that she didn't already know. "I heard Dash was going to propose to you!"

Yes, and there it was. Sam held back a sigh as she said, "That's just wonderful." She really did try to make it sound genuine but it was simply impossible. No matter, Paulina, ever the air head, didn't notice anyway.

Paulina apparently grew tired of standing around, so she pulled Sam into the pavilion where couples danced or simply chatted. As soon as Paulina let go of her, Sam tried to wiggle back out of the crowd. Just when she was on the edge of the throng and about to reach freedom, she heard a voice that made her stop dead in her tracks.

She turned around, suppressing a scowl, and saw a handsome young man in a tailored black suit. His blond locks were perfectly coiffed and Sam didn't think she saw a speck of dust on him. Her stomach soured at the sight of him.

"Samantha dear! There you are!" he said pleasantly.

Sam debated on whether she should turn and run as he approached her. In stead she simply waited, hating her decision with every step he made towards her. He came up to her and grabbed her had. She almost snatched it back.

"Samantha, why don't you come dance with me?" he asked with a false smile. She knew he hated this arrangement just as much as she did.

"Of course," she said letting him lead her to back into the pavilion.

After a while of Sam letting herself be dragged around like a dead weight, Dashiell whispered in her ear, "Do you remember what we discussed?"

For the thousandth time that evening, Sam had to repress a sigh. "Yes, I have excellent memory," she snipped.

"I hear your tone. Don't pretend like we aren't both victims. I want no part in this marriage either," Dashiell said.

"Oh, you poor thing. It won't be as if you won't lay with every woman in the village after our wedding," Sam said, instantly regretting her words once they passed her lips.

Dashiell tightened his grip on her hand and waist to the point it hurt her. "Say something like that again, and I just might have to punish you like a good husband," he whispered dangerously.

Sam wrenched herself out of his hold. "You are not my husband yet," she spat and left the pavilion in a flurry of skirts.

* * *

 

Despite their falling out earlier, Sam obediently met Dashiell at the gazebo in the garden, just like planned. And just like planned Dashiell dropped to one knee and asked her to marry him.

Sam's stomach roiled as she looked from her would be fiancé to the crowd. She looked back at Dashiell and saw the fake smile smeared all over his face and her resolve almost faltered. She had to do this. Even though she might be throwing the rest of her life away, she had to do this for her family.

She was just about to say 'yes' when Dashiell whispered impatiently, "What are you waiting for?"

And that was it. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. That simple little thing was the final act on Dashiell's part to make her resolve crumbled into a thousand pieces. But she wouldn't go running from the gazebo like a ninny. Oh, no, that would be rude. She wanted to explain to Dashiell exactly why she couldn't marry him. That was the least he deserved.

Smiling sweetly, Sam said loud enough for everyone to hear, "I love my family, Dash," His fake smile faltered at the use of his hated nickname. "So much so that I put up with you for a month, but I can't continue this charade. I _hate_ you."

With that she left the gazebo, the shocked crowd parting for her to get through. In the distance she could already hear her mother crying.

* * *

 

It was positively frigid outside, and it had every right to be, it was the middle of February. Sam's and Dashiell's wedding had been planned to fall on Valentine's Day. Sam had thought it was such a parody of what that day was supposed to mean.

Then again, she didn't have to worry about their wedding anymore. No, all she had to worry about was her family's dwindling money.

And their money was dwindling precisely because the company had fallen into shambles after her father's disappearance two years ago. Her father was an inventor and he had been traveling to China to buy schematics for some unknown machine when he had simply disappeared. By now he was thought dead, perhaps captured and killed by some savage tribe or lost out in the wilderness and died from starvation or exposure. Sam, unlike everyone else, tried to keep hope that her farther was still alive, but that hope slipped more and more every day that passed without his return.

She sighed, making a large puff of steam with her breath and focused on the little swirls of water vapor to distract her from her wondering thoughts.

Sam didn't want to be out here in the cold, but it was better than being inside listening to her mother's wails. Pamela had been listless on the carriage ride home and once there she had run up to her chambers and locked herself in, likely getting drunk. Her cries had sporadically been heard throughout the rest of the evening.

Sam's dog, Lilith, a beautiful solid black borzoi, whined. She looked to the silken hound and saw the poor animal was shivering. Sam shook her head and clicked her tongue. "How are you cold? You were bred in Russia."

Nonetheless Sam brought Lilith up on the bench and into her lap, pulling her cloak around the both of them.

She sighed again and pet her dog's silken head. "I wish my life was as simple as yours. You really don't know how good you have it because even when my family becomes completely destitute, you'll be sold to another owner who can take care of you. We'll likely have to live on the streets."

Saying that, Sam still did not feel the least bit guilty with her decision. To be completely honest, she would rather die than marry that pompous pig. Marrying him would have drained all the life out of her anyway.

She let out another steamy breath.

Sam sat like that with her hound out on the cold garden bench for perhaps an hour until Lilith's ears perked up. The dog's muscles tensed, and a growl rumbled deep in her chest. Before Sam could even wonder what was wrong, the borzoi leapt off her lap and went running into the bushes. Sam gathered up her skirts and took chase. Just barely keeping up with the hound, he saw a flash of white in the distance ahead. They got to a small meadow and suddenly, Lilith stopped dead in her tracks almost making Sam trip over her.

As soon as she steadied her self, Sam inspected her dog. Lilith's hackles were raised and she gave a deep almost fearful growl from the back of her throat. Sam noticed that the hound was staring at something and followed her gaze. As soon as she spotted what Lilith was glaring at, her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

There, right in front of her, about five meters away, was a skeleton of some small animal. It wasn't lying on the ground still and dead as it should have. No, it was up and standing on four bony feet, looking at her with glowing greed orbs. She looked closer and thought she saw some kind of a smoky outline simulating the fur and flesh that should have been there. Due to the outline, she determined that the creature might have been a fox once.

The thing didn't look too worried about her presence or the big hound that was bred to hunt wolves, perhaps because it was already dead and had nothing to fear. However, when Lilith began to bark at the creature it flinched and took off again. 

For some reason, Sam felt the need to follow it. Perhaps it was curiosity or some other force compelling her forward towards her destiny. Whatever it was, Sam took case after it with Lilith reluctantly following behind her.

She skidded to a halt when she spotted its gleaming bones paused over something. With the moon shining bright at its fullest Sam could just make out through the shadows that the specter was standing just outside of what looked like a foxhole.

Lilith barked again and the shade retreated into the hole. Sam turned to glare at her dog, but quickly directed her attention back to where the skeletal creature had disappeared. Cautiously, she trudged forward, Lilith whining uneasily behind her.

Sam went up to the hole and peered in. She saw nothing, not even a faint glow from the creature's eyes, so she leaned in a little closer. Sam yelped when she felt Lilith forcefully pull her away from the hole by her cloak. Unsteady and unbalanced, she fell back on her bottom into the snow that had blanketed the ground by the first of December.

She turned to level a glare at the dog that was usually so well mannered. "How dare you? For that go home Lilith! Now!" she commanded.

The dog stood her ground and continued to whine uneasily at her mistress.

Sam huffed and turned back to the foxhole. She started to look back down into it when she felt Lilith's pull on her cloak again. "Stop!" she said harshly and this time Lilith laid down on her belly in the snow, looking down submissively.

Sam once again turned back to the hole and peered down into it. For a second she saw something flicker in its depths and leaned down, squinting to get a better look. She gasped when she felt the earth give way underneath her hand. As Sam felt herself lurch forward into the hole, a scream tore out of her throat. In a futile attempt to save herself she twisted around midair and reached for something--anything to grab onto. The only thing she managed to do was see the outline of Lilith's head as the hound helplessly looked down the hole after her.


	2. The Boy

As Sam continued to fall, she sincerely wished that she had heeded her beloved dog's warning. She had fallen so far now that she could no longer even see Lilith's outline looking over the hole. In fact she couldn't see anything in the oppressing darkness. She dimly wondered in her fear addled mind if she had actually fallen down an old covered up well.

She was still facing up, trying to get a glimpse of anything before her imminent demise when she noticed that the earthen walls around her were suddenly lit up by a dim green glow. She flipped around in the air wondering what it could possibly be and saw to her amazement what looked like a pit of green fire. A strangled scream clawed its way out of her throat, and she braced her arms over her face as she was just about to fall into the inferno. Her scream was cut off and replaced by breathless gasp when there was suddenly a shift so quick and drastic that if felt like all the air was forced out of her and left her mind reeling for several moments.

When she recovered and regained enough wherewithal to appreciate her situation, she realized that she was no longer falling so much as gently floating down as one would do in a pool of water. Cautiously, she uncovered her eyes and gasped, this time not out of fear or pain but in awe.

The atmosphere of the new environment around her was filled with swirls of green smoke like a sickly fog. The fog wreathed around impossible floating islands and, remarkably, floating purple doors, as well. They were of all shapes and sizes and seemed to go to nowhere. Globes of light also moved freely in the strange air, like oversized fireflies or perhaps fairies, frequently bouncing off other objects randomly hovering in this chaotic landscape. One or two of the strange lights even bounced off of Sam as she continued to descend.

Finally, she gently landed on one of the floating rocks. She tried to pull herself up, but instantly found herself huffing for breath. The air was so thick it was like drawing liquid into her lungs. She tried pull herself up gain, barely managing to get on her feet. As it was, she instantly doubled over, gasping for air.

"It takes some time to get used to," said a young voice with an American accent.

Sam's head snapped up and she saw a boy about her age floating in midair only a few feet away. He had snow white locks messily cropped short, and a slight greenish tent to his skin. If she looked hard enough she could just see the faint outline of a skull behind translucent flesh. The boy was wearing a black vest over a white shirt and black trousers, but his feet where bare. Sam briefly wondered about that, but quickly turned her attention back to his face where his most striking feature resided: his eyes. The entire orb of his eye was consumed in green except where his pupils should have been. There was a slightly lighter green circle there. Sam almost shivered when she caught him inspecting her with those green eyes of his.

She briefly wondered if she should talk to this specter at all. Her grandmother had warned her not to interact with spirits, and any teaching she had ever received from the Tora and her synagog warned against it, as well. However it was her only option at this point, so she mustered up her courage and simply asked, "Where am I?"

* * *

 

Danny had been drawn away from amusing himself with a ghost orb when he had heard a shrill scream. At first he had thought it was someone being attacked, possibly by a wraith or a ghost beast, so he had rushed to help. Instead, he had found a girl of about his age, or at least his age when he had died, struggling to breathe.

He gave her a sympathetic look even though she hadn't noticed he was there yet. It was always the hardest for newcomers. They often thought they were still alive and needed things like air. Danny remembered when he had first arrived. He had panicked when he could no longer feel breath in his lungs.

"It takes some time to get used to," he said, finally calling her attention.

She startled and quickly looked up at him. Danny almost chuckled at how large her eyes became, but mirth quickly turned to curiosity when he noticed her lack of an aura. He tilted his head and floated a few feet closer to her. How strange, he couldn't sense a signature either. All ghosts had a "signature" that another ghost or spirit could sense. Old ghosts could learn to mask theirs, but hat wouldn't explain her lack of aura. Danny just couldn't imagine that she was an old ghost, anyway from the shock on her face at the sight of him.

"Where am I?" the girl asked after she finally overcame her shock. She tried to sound brave, but Danny could hear the tremor in her voice.

"You're in the spirit world," he answered simply, opting to go with the most generic name.

She visibly paled at the statement. "The spirit world? As in Sheol?" she asked.

Sheol? Wasn't that the Jewish word for the afterlife? Danny scrunched his nose in thought. "Well, a lot of people call it lots of things. Me, I call it Purgatory, but that's just my personal preference."

"Does that mean I'm...dead?" the girl asked in a horrified whisper.

Danny shook his head. "I don't think so. A ghost can usually sense another ghost, and with you..." He floated closer to the point where he was only a foot away from her, "I'm coming up with nothing." He flew back a few paces, at which point he could see her visibly relax, and crossed his arms. "But how did you get down here if you're not dead?" he said mostly to himself.

"Wha--how should I know? I-I just fell down a hole," she stammered.

"Huh, that's funny. I've heard of people getting out through holes, but never live ones getting in through them," he said frowning in thought.

"Perhaps then I can get back out the way I came..." she said as she looked up.

Danny looked up with her, but only saw green mist. "Maybe you just can't see it because you fell too far down. Here, I'll help you!" He said and grabbed her under her arms and lifted her up in the air.

Danny stopped too quickly, almost letting her go when she let out a shriek that could rival a banshee. He realized with a grimace that he had probably given her whiplash if not on the takeoff then when he came to a screeching halt. To his defense, it had been a while since he had been alive and had to deal with such things himself.

"Are you okay?" he asked sheepishly.

"No I'm not! Put me down!" she cried.

Obediently, the specter complied and set her back down on the island she had landed on in the first place. She instantly fell to her knees.

Danny nervously rubbed the back of his neck, a habit he had gained while he was still alive, as he said, "You know, I didn't see or feel anything. The hole you came through probably closed. They do that often. Most portals to the living world are unstable. I guess I could help you find another way out."

"I don't need or want your help," the girl said unsteadily getting back to her feet.

Danny rolled his eyes and scoffed. "I can't just let you try to find a way out on your own. In a matter of no time you'd actually fit in around here. No, I gotta show you, like the proper chivalrous knight I am," he said puffing his chest out ridiculously. "Besides, I've got nothing better to do."

She sent him a glare. "You're no knight. You're just a silly boy."

He gave her a wounded look that quickly turned into a pout. "Well, maybe I'm not, but I'm still your best chance of getting out of here," he said seriously, and he had every right to be. There were lots of creatures out there in the void that were not nearly as friendly as him. There were things that were just waiting for a portal to open up so they could escape and feed off the living. This girl wouldn't last a second without him.

She opened her mouth, probably ready to throw out a rebuttal, then snapped it shut again when she realized she had not good argument. Giving a frustrated groan, she said, "Fine. Help me get back home, oh wondrous knight in shining armor."

"Okay, but first I need something from you," he said, suddenly contorting his face to look as sinister as he could.

Mirth bubbled up in his chest when Sam instinctively took a step back. He was just playing with her, of course, but she deserved to be a little scared for being so snooty.

"What is it?" she asked, eyeing him warily. "Do you want my first born, or my soul, or something else of the like? That's what most creatures like you in stories want, isn't it?"

Danny's serious facade fell when he could no longer hold back a snicker. "I was just going to ask you for you name. No need to be so dramatic," he said trying to hold back his giggles. He eventually doubled over in the air with laughter, no longer able to contain his mirth.

The girl's wary look morphed into a scowl. "It's Samantha, Samantha Manson," she bit out.

"Great, my name's Danny," he said, holding his hand, as if nothing had happened. She examined it for a moment then cautiously took it. "By the by, would you mind if I just call you Sam?"

"Coincidentally, I prefer Sam," she said as she took her hand back.

"Then why didn't you just introduce yourself as Sam?" Danny asked, tilting his head.

"Because usually, people will just look at me funny and ask me what my real name is," she said sourly.

Danny scrunched his nose as if he had smelled something bad. "That's rude of them. But anyway," he said with a wave of his hand, "enough dilly dallying. We should go. It's dangerous to stay in one place too long around here."

He grabbed her hand and started to pull her away from the floating island until she snatched the appendage back like it had been burned. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Well, I assume you can't fly since you're not a ghost, so I'm leading you," he said and grabbed her hand again.

Sam yelped as the ghost boy pulled her off her feet. He grinned impishly at her surprise. Danny had forgotten how much fun it was to mess with the living. He would have to find a portal out and visit the topside again sometime soon.

"Relax, I have you," Danny said, still smiling mischievously.

His smile quickly disappeared when a roar sounded in the distance. A weight sank in his stomach--or it would if he had one--at the sound of it. Every ghost and spirit feared that roar. "Behemoth," Danny said in a terrified whisper, "He probably senses your presence."

"Behemoth?" Sam asked strangledly when Danny pulled her away too fast.

"Yes, Behemoth. Some call him the Gatekeeper, but Behemoth suits him better. He's like the watchdog of the spirit world, and he might be the reason why I've never heard of any living people coming down here," Danny said over his shoulder as he dragged Sam along through the void as fast as he could.

"What does he look like?" Sam asked, her words nearly being whipped away by the wind.

"Let's hope you never have to find out," Danny answered grimly.


	3. The Map

Danny finally slowed down to a more comfortable pace, after they had flown for what felt like about an hour at breakneck speed.

"I think we lost him," the ghost boy said, "Oh, and hey, look! We're almost there too!" He cheerfully looked to Sam with a silly grin.

Sam actually let herself smile too, despite feeling like a rag doll after the phantom's treatment of her. "We're almost to the portal back to the real world?" she asked, hope leaking into her voice.

"No," Danny said. The smile instantly fell from Sam's face. "But we're almost to the FarFrozen."

"Is that at least on the way to the to portal out of here?" she asked.

Danny simply shrugged. "I don't know."

That was when Sam's building annoyance finally exploded into into anger. "That is enough!" she shouted, ripping her hand away from the ghost boy.

Danny backed away a pace or two, eyeing her warily. Sam pointedly ignored the fact that she was still floating in the air even without the phantom's aid (where there any laws of physics in this world at all?) and said, "Do you or don't you know where I could find another way out of this place?"

"I don't exactly know a way out--" he began to say.

"Surely you jest! You've dragged me all around this God forsaken world and you don't know a way out!" Sam shouted, throwing her hands in the air.

"You didn't let me finish. I don't know a way out, but I know how to find one," Danny explained.

Sam crossed her arms and huffed. "Then how?"

"I would show you if--"

For the second time, Danny was cut off, this time by a deep baritone voice. "Master Daniel, you've returned! What took you so long?"

Sam's eyes widened comically when they landed on the creature that spoke. It stood upright like a man, and even apparently had the capacity to wear clothes, displaying a skirt-like garment held in place by an ornate belt and a royal blue cape draped around its shoulders, along with various accessories. However, the creature still looked more beast than man. It was covered in shaggy white fur with horns sprouting out of its head, and it's hands, thought human-like, were tipped in razor-sharp talons. Sam even noticed with a shock that one of its hands seemed to be made completely of ice. She directed her attention to its face in an attempt to ignore its strangely frozen appendage and found it was inspecting her as well. She quickly averted her gaze from its strangely intelligent golden eyes. She keenly wondered what living beast could have spawned a ghost like this.

"I was just scouting around," Danny said, bringing the attention of the creature back on himself, "and look what I found!" He gestured to Sam looking pleased with himself, as if he had found a new toy to play with.

Her attention snapped to Danny, sending him an annoyed glare. "Excuse you, I am not a what! I am a who!" she said haughtily.

Looking and sounding completely unapologetic, he said, "Sorry, I'm not great with grammar."

"And who may you be?" the beast asked, redirecting Sam's attention. Strangely its words were clear and concise even thought they were uttered through a broad muzzle, which she noticed was bristling with sharp teeth.

"I'm Samantha Manson, but I prefer Sam," she said a bit timidly.

"All right then, Sam, you are not from our world, are you?" It asked knowingly.

"No, I'm not," she admitted. "Do you by any chance know of a way I could get back home, Mr. Beast?"

The big furry creature chuckled warmly. "My name is Frostbite, Chief of the FarFrozen. Not Mr. Beast, I'm afraid. To answer your question, I do indeed know of a way to help you get back home."

Sam brightened considerably at that. "Then please tell us sir, so we may be on our way," she said with uncharacteristic pep.

Frostbite smiled amusedly. "I'm afraid it is not that simple."

Suddenly there was a sound in the distance like a tortured shriek of some dying animal. It made the hairs on the back of Sam's neck stand on end. She supposed that it was better than the "Behemoth's" thunderous roar, however.

"Now how about we go before something less pleasant than me shows up," Frostbite said to which both Danny and Sam replied with an eager nod.

* * *

 

Walking through the land that Frostbite called home, an archipelago of icy islands called the FarFrozen, made Sam colder than she had ever been in her life. She tried not to show her discomfort, but it was impossible. Her teeth were chattering uncontrollably, and she was shivering violently despite already being amply dressed for winter weather.

"W-why i-is it so c-cold here?" she chattered out.

"Legend has it that a great ice spirit with incredible power froze these lands. The reasons why differ with many versions," Frostbite said. He then added, "Don't worry we'll be someplace you can get warm soon."

Sam was too cold to notice a large opening into a mountain at first, but when she did, they were almost already inside of it. It seemed to be a large natural cave that was at least as wide and as long as a football field. At the back of it were two large gilded doors. Two other large furry white beasts opened the doors for the trio as they approached.

Even in the cave, the temperature had been considerably warmer than the frigid tundra outside, but past the gilded doors it was down right cozy. It was so warm she almost wanted to take off her cloak.

As the trio walked down the long hall, Sam took the time to look around. She noticed that the hall looked to be carved out of the rock by skilled masons. On the walls of the unnatural cave were detailed images of perhaps past events lit up by braziers on the floor. She was so enamored by the pictures on the wall that she hardly heard Frostbite speak.

"I'm sorry. What did you say?" she asked

"I commented on the fact that you seem rather curious," he said.

"Oh, yes, I suppose I am. What is this place?" she asked.

Frostbite looked pleased at her question. "This is the Hall of Events. It tells the stories of my people all the way back from when our kind were first formed and first colonized these lands, and with each passing event the hall gets longer."

Sam frowned. "How does that work? Won't you eventually run out of space?"

Frostbite chuckled lightly. "One would think, but no. You see, this hall is imbued with magic which allows us to expand it on into infinity if we wanted."

Sam looked around the space with a new respect. "That is quite spectacular, but it would surely take a long time to walk a hall that was infinitely long, wouldn't it?"

Both Frostbite and Danny chuckled at that. "It surely would," Frostbite said.

Finally, they reached another set of gilded doors, these being much smaller and unguarded. The doors, despite their size were easily pushed open, not even making a squeak.

Sam made a surprised sound as the sudden brightness of the light beyond the doors stunned her eyes. When her vision finally recovered, she gasped at the grandeur of the space around her. The chamber before her was utterly enormous, being large enough to swallow Buckingham Palace and its surrounding acreage easily. Off the main cavern branched smaller ones, perhaps designed and designated for other things, but in the walls of the main cavern, the people of the FarFrozen carved out their homes and businesses, all accessible by a complex lattice of stairs and walkways.

Ornate pillars, seemingly made from ice, supported the roof. Sam found herself walking up to one and laying a hand on it. Remarkably, it wasn't as cold as ice should be, rather just chilled like the pane of a window on a cold day. Her eyes followed the height of the column all the way to the top where brightly glowing green and blue patches of...stuff resided.

As she backed away from the pillar, still staring in awe at the shimmering roof, Sam was nearly bowled over by a group of smaller beasts which she assumed where the young of Frostbite's kind. Many of the wooly children played around the space with strange looking animals of sorts, some being ghostly versions of the pets that she knew, others being just utterly bizarre.

Eyes wide in wonder and mouth slightly agape, she turned back to Frostbite and Danny, the latter of which was giggling at her.

"Questions?" The chieftain asked with an amused smirk on his muzzle.

"Many, a few being: what is the strange substance on the ceiling, why is this ice not cold, or better yet why isn't it melting, and how can you have children if you're ghosts?" she said in a rush.

Frostbite chuckled again. "Well, in order, the substance on the ceiling that gives light to this cavern is a type of glowing moss that was there long before we made a settlement in this mountain. The pillars are made from a special ice that is created at will--a power all my people share--and will only melt if we allow it. And we are not exactly ghosts as you think of them."

"Wait, what do you mean you're not ghosts? You live--or exist in the ghost world," Sam asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We consider ourselves spirits. I'm sure you know, Sam, that most people use the terms spirit and ghost synonymously, but there is actually a distinction. Where as a ghost is a disembodied soul of a once living thing, a spirit is an ethereal being that never lived in your world and was born in this domain," Frostbite explained.

"How curious," Sam muttered to herself.

"Now come along. I have something to show you that may aid you in your journey," the chieftain said as he began to walk forward again.

Frostbite led them to an alcove at the far end of the main cave which was guarded by two more of the FarFrozen's people. They nodded respectfully as their chief walked by. The subsection seemed to be a library of sorts having many tomes and scrolls housed in shelves carved out for the rock face. Frostbite continued to lead them to an even smaller grotto concealed by a rich purple curtain and guarded by yet another set of guards.

Sam noticed the guards look between each other a little worriedly as Frostbite led her and Danny towards the secluded room.

"Be at ease, Ice Fang, Hoarfrost. I simply wish to help a lost child find her way home. She is granted safe passage by Master Daniel himself," the chieftain said.

At that, the guards shared a surprised look and quickly moved aside. One even said as Sam passed, "Apologies for our suspicions."

As they walked past the curtain, Sam turned to Danny. "What did you do to become known as 'Master Daniel'?" Sam whispered.

"I saved Frostbite's life. He was being attacked by an ice wraith, and I killed it. No big deal," he said with a shrug.

Sam blinked at the specter's swift dismissal. She was about to ask another question when she was interrupted by Frostbite.

"Here it is, child!" The chief said excitedly as he pulled out a large scroll from an ornate chest. He carefully placed it upon a the large stone table in the center of the room, his hands hovering over it reverently. "Oh, I haven't looked at this relic in so very long."

Danny made an excited sound and was nearly bouncing off the walls. "You're finally showing it to me!"

"Showing what?" Sam asked, eyeing the scroll.

"This is the Infinity Map," Frostbite said and spread the paper over the table.

In a flourish, the ghost world spread out before her, much like one of the pop up books her mother used to read to her. Amazingly the miniaturized world seemed to be only produced by glittering light like from a projector. Sam stared in awe as the images on the map moved and changed very much like the world outside.

"It was made alongside the creation of this world," Frostbite went to explain, "by a being whose power one cannot fathom. It was gifted to my people so very long ago to guard it. It is our most sacred relic," the chief said, his voice tinged with awe.

"Even though I've been staying with the people of the FarFrozen for a while now, Frostbite still hadn't shown it to me until now. It's that serious," Danny whispered to her conspiratorially.

"It is truly amazing," Sam said. She looked to the wooly chief. "I am honored that you would gift it to us to find my way home."

Frostbite chuckled at her like one would a small child speaking nonsense. "I'm afraid I couldn't possibly allow you to take it with you. It is much too valuable. But never fear. I will have a separate map drawn up for you to aid your journey."

"But what good would that do when everything is constantly shifting in this world?" Sam complained. "Unless you could recreate that...moving effect."

"No, I'm afraid not. This magic is far beyond our skills. However, not all things move as erratically in this world as you may think. There are some things that stay the same, only disrupted every few eons during a shift. I'll have a map drawn up of those landmarks. Now let's see where a stable portal to the human world is." He directed his attention back to the map. "Map, show us the nearest portal to the human world," Frostbite commanded. Suddenly, the floating archipelago of frozen islands that made up the FarFrozen shrunk to a tiny speck. A landmark was enlarged and shone brighter it looked like a demonic gateway with a swirling mass of green at its center. Sam did not like look of it one bit.

"That doesn't look good," Danny said from beside her.

"Definitely not. That...thing looks absolutely horrid," Sam fretted.

"What, the portal? No, I was talking about the things we would have to pass on the way to it," Danny said.

"What's bad on the way there?" Sam asked warily.

"Well, for one we'd have to pass Pariah's Keep. In there is locked a crazy ghost that is incredibly powerful. So powerful he even tried to take over the entire spirit world and named himself King of Ghosts," Danny explained, pointing to an ominous looking castle. "And then there's the Forest of Monsters. We will definitely have to give that a wide berth. Oh, but hey, we can totally avoid getting anywhere near the first obstacle, which is the Howling Caves. I know a short cut past that one. So maybe it won't be so bad after all," the ghost boy said much too cheerily.

Sam looked at him like he was crazy. "How can it not be bad? I don't know about you, but I still have a healthy fear of death."

"Um, well, I'm already dead."

"Yes, that's exactly my point," Sam said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Not to worry, young Sam," Frostbite said in a fatherly tone. "Master Daniel may not look that imposing--" there was an ignored cry of protest from the boy, "--but he has a hidden strength within. Why, in fact he saved my life, and destroyed the ice wraith that ambushed me and my people out on a hunt."

"So I've heard," she muttered under her breath.

"Now, in the mean time," Frostbite said as he begun to roll up the magical map, "while I commission a cartographer, you should rest up and perhaps eat something."

* * *

 

Another of Frostbite's people escorted Sam to a room in an alcove off the main cave. It seemed to be nearest to Frostbite's quarters. The chieftain would have escorted her himself but a matter that he had to attend to sprang up suddenly. He had ordered one of his men to send for his personal servant to escort Sam to guest chambers.

The servant introduced itself as Snowflake, and Sam had been somewhat surprised to recognize the creature's voice as feminine. Following behind the female beast Sam recognized her femininity. Her shoulders were smaller, her fur looked softer, and she lacked horns like the males Sam had seen.

In a honeyed voice one wouldn't think a creature of her size could produce, Snowflake said, "And here is your room, darling." She opened the door and ushered Sam in. "Is there anything I can get you?" she added.

"Perhaps something to eat, but I would prefer no meat," Sam asked.

"Of course, dear," Snowflake said and left.

Sam turned, inspecting her new environment, and saw to her surprise that Danny was right behind her. She yelped and backed away so quickly that she almost tripped over the bed.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you knew I was still behind you," Danny said rubbing the back of his neck bashfully.

Sam gave an annoyed huff and glared at the ghost boy. "How could I? You didn't make a sound. What are you still here for anyway?"

Danny shrugged. "I'm bored, I guess."

"I'm not your entertainment," she said haughtily.

"Sure you are! You're the most interesting thing that's happened around here in a while," he said happily.

Sam rolled her eyes and groaned. "Well if you're not going to leave me in peace, I might as well attempt to make conversation."

"Alright, what do you want to talk about?" Danny asked, crossing his legs under him in midair.

Sam shook her head at his antics. "What about how you saved Frostbite from an ice wraith. What even is a bloody ice wraith?"

"There's not much to tell," Danny said with a shrug. "I was simply wondering around the spirit world as most ghosts do, and I heard some sounds of distress. I went to help, and I killed the ice wraith that was attacking Frostbite. I admit it was pretty gruesome. Frostbite had lost his arm to the monster and two of his men had been killed."

"But if Frostbite lost his arm and two of his men, how could you best the beast? And again what is an ice wraith?" Sam asked, annoyed by his lackluster storytelling skills.

"Oh, an ice wraith is a crazed ghost from a person that froze to death. A regular wraith is someone who died in a horrible way. Their usually quite powerful. Ice wraiths can shoot streams of icy breath and has horrible claws and fangs and they're really fast," Danny explained.

"Then how on earth did you best one?" Sam asked again.

"I have special powers, and I'm really fast too," he chirped with a gleam in his eye.

"Special powers? Like wha--"

Sam was interrupted when Snowflake came back in with a tray holding a bowl of something steaming.

"Master Daniel, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm sure Sam would like to rest," Snowflake said.

"Oh all right," he grumbled. "Good night, Sam." He was out of the room so fast the wind he created ruffle a few items, including Snowflake's fur as he zoomed past her out the door.

The female beast chuckled at his antics. "That boy is a wild one. I'm afraid I'll have to be his nanny forever, but he has a good core. It's a shame he died so young."

"Do you know what happened to him?" Sam asked, suddenly curious.

Snowflake shook her head sadly. "I don't think he would appreciate me telling you. Most ghost are quite sensitive about their deaths."

"I see," Sam said, taking the tray from Snowflake. "I suppose that makes sense, after all."

* * *

 

Two days later, or at least what felt like two days, the cartographer had finished his work and Sam was ready to leave. She, Danny, and Frostbite stood in the main cave. The members of Frostbite's tribe occasionally stopped and watched the procession, but then quickly went about their business again. The children had taken a particular interest.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay?" the chieftain asked as she handed Sam a pack full of things she would need for the journey ahead. "It is very dangerous out there, even with a ghost like Master Daniel accompanying you."

Sam was almost tempted to stay. Here she didn't have to worry about marrying someone just for their money, or any finances at all. And the people of the FarFrozen were wonderful, and so was their home, but what would her family do without her? She would hate to think that because of her own selfishness her mother and grandmother were grieving over not just her father but her as well.

"No, I'm afraid I can't. My family needs me," she said.

"That is noble indeed. Whenever you come back, you are always welcome in the FarFrozen," Frostbite said. Sam was a little disturbed that the chief said 'when' not 'if', but quickly brushed it off. She supposed everyone had to die eventually.

Sam took a look around the magnificent cavern one last time then turned to Danny beside her. "You have the map?" she asked.

Danny took the folded piece of parchment to show her and then put it back into his pocket.

"I suppose we should go now," Sam said solemnly.

Frostbite stepped forward. "I shall escort you to the edge of our territory. It is the least I can do."


	4. The Pharaoh

After Frostbite left them at the border at of his territory, Danny and Sam floated alone in silence through the misty void. Sam usually enjoyed silence. In silence she wouldn't have to pretend to care about some inane thing another member of high society was talking about. However, as she and Danny floated through the ghost world, Sam wished the ghost boy would say something if just to distract her from the distant moans and screeches of the dead that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

Finally, Sam had had enough. "What is this place we are going to again?" she asked.

Danny looked back at her with a mildly surprised expression. "I thought you didn't want to talk to me?"

"What? I never said that," Sam retorted.

"Well, you may not have said that specifically, but you said something to that effect a while ago."

Sam gave an annoyed huff. "Whatever. I wish to talk to you now. So please tell me where we are going."

Danny shrugged. "We're going to that shortcut I told you about. Fortunately, the shortcut through the lair of a close friend of mine."

"A lair? What do you mean lair?" Sam asked. She wasn't sure if she liked the implications that word brought forth. When she thought of a lair a picture of somewhere musty and damp came to her mind.

"A lair is ghost home. It's the floating doors you see all over the place," Danny answered.

She looked around at the doors in a new light. "Interesting. Do you have a lair?"

Danny shook his head. "No. Most ghosts have lairs, but not all."

"Why don't you have one?" Sam asked.

"I just don't, okay?" he said a little too quickly.

Sam narrowed her eyes at the back of his head. "Oh come on now! Just tell me. I'm simply trying to pass the time. It's not as if I'm going to judge you for whatever reason it is, anyhow."

Danny glanced back at her with a frown then said, "Well...I...guess I don't really want one. Also, I wouldn't really know what to base it after. I'm not entirely sure what my obsession is, and I certainly don't want to base it after my home in life."

Sam wisely chose to skirt around the subject of his past life and asked instead, "So...what's an obsession then, and what do you mean base it after--the lair I mean."

"Well, a lair is like a pocket in the ghost world that a ghost creates and they can manipulate anything in that pocket. They're essentially the god or goddess of their lair," Danny explained. "And an obsession is the thing that gives the ghost a reason to be. You might call it "unfinished business". Without an obsession most ghosts fade out. Also, if you're wondering, fading out is like our version of death."

"So do you have any idea what your obsession could be?" Sam asked.

Danny shrugged. "Maybe saving people. I tend to do that a lot."

A wry smile curled Sam's lips. "How noble."

"Not really," Danny mumbled. "It probably just stems from my inability to save myself when I was alive." As soon as the words left his mouth, he sent a startled look back to her as if he realized he had said too much.

After a stunned pause Sam shook her head. "I won't even ask about that."

Danny gave her a relieved look. "Thank y—"  
  
Suddenly, an ear splitting roar sounded from somewhere close by. The ghost boy froze, his hand tightening around Sam's.

"He's found us," he said in a horrified whisper.

Danny started to pull Sam away, but a huge monstrous creature suddenly loomed out of the mist in their path. It was truly the most awful and terrible thing Sam had ever seen. It had a snake-like body covered in red scales and patches of fur with two sets of arms with hands tipped in talons the size of crane hooks, but where it had a surplus in arms it was lacking in legs, it's torso tapering off into a snake like tale. It's face was the worst part of the monster, being an utterly hideous mix of ape and reptile with beady black eyes and slit nostrils.

Danny quickly tried to swerve around the monster, but was swiped aside by one of its hands. He went flying along with Sam, crash landing in one of the nearby islands. Sam blinked the stars out of her eyes just in time to see a stream of fire coming from the monster's mouth. She braced herself for the fires that would surely consume her, but just before the flames hit, Danny countered it with a blast of frost he shot from his hands.

"I escorting her home!" Danny shouted as he picked himself up from his impact crater. "Isn't that what you want, her out of the ghost world?"

The creature didn't seem to understand or perhaps just didn't care and swiped again at Danny with its massive claws. Danny dodged just in time and shot another icy blast at the creature.

* * *

 

Danny knew he was a powerful ghost, but even the most prideful spirit would cower at the mention of the Behemoth. Countering blast after blast of scarlet flames the beast shot at him, Danny quickly began to tire. He didn't stand one bit of a chance facing this thing by himself.

But then again no one said he had to face it alone.

Danny shot another icy blast at the monster and while it was still recovering, he put two fingers to his lips blew. A whistle rang out in the void.

The monster gave some pause at the odd action, but recovered quickly and assumed it's attack.

"What on Earth was that for?" Sam called out from the island she was marooned on.

"We're not on Earth, and you'll just have to see!" Danny answered, to which he received an annoyed groan to.

"Don't worry," Danny mumbling to himself, "he'll be here soon...I hope."

Danny yelped and cursed himself for getting distracted when a claw nearly sliced him in half.

* * *

 

Surprisingly, Danny was able to keep up with the monster for a while, countering its fiery breath with his icy blasts and dodging its talons, but it soon became apparent to Sam that he couldn't keep up with the onslaught forever. He was slowing down and was once almost hit by one of the monster's swipes.

And Sam was still stuck, unable to do anything but stand on an accursed piece of rock and curse her own uselessness.

One of the claws finally hit its mark, nearly taking Danny's arm off. He let out an ear piercing scream that seemed to continue to get louder into infinity. Sam was eventually forced to slap her hands over her ears. Even then the waves of sound made her feel like her head would surely explode. If she wasn't so distracted by the pain from her destroyed eardrums she would have noticed how there seemed to be visible waves of sound coming from the ghost boy's mouth, and how they physically pushed the monster back.

The ghostly wail eventually petered out and Danny simply hung in the air. The Behemoth began to recover from the blast of sound, but Danny still floated limply with no sings of movement.

"Danny, please get up!" Sam shouted. He didn't even stir.

The monster was closing in when a large green form shot out of the mist like a speeding bullet and suddenly attacked the monster, going so far as to rip one of its massive arms off, allowing green goo to spew from the remaining stump and the severed appendage. The Behemoth gave a loud shriek and tried to counter attack, but was not quick enough.

The green form that Sam could now tell looked like a humongous mastiff flew over to Danny's unmoving body. With a few slobbery kisses to his face, Danny revived a bit. The injured ghost boy seemed to say something to the ghostly dog and grabbed onto its collar before rushing over to Sam. Before she could do anything, she was snatched up in the spectral hound's slobbery maw.

The three of them rushed away. The monster tried to give chase but it was either too tired or too slow or perhaps a mix of the two to catch them.

* * *

 

"All right, enough!" Sam said trying to wiggle out of the dog's mouth. "I am tired of being slobbered on." They were far enough away from the Gatekeeper that they couldn't even hear it's cries of outrage anymore, so she felt that it was high time for her to get out of the dog's mouth.

"Cujo, stop," Danny mumbled weakly.

The ghost dog stopped suddenly and opened its jaws to let her out.

"Thank you so very much for your consideration," she said haughtily, wiping as much slobber off her as she could.

"I didn't stop him for you. We're here," Danny said.

He let go of the dog's collar and flew forward unsteadily toward a door that looked like it was gold plated and had strange designs of strange fellows with wings. It almost reminded Sam of an Egyptian museum exhibit she had seen once. Danny pushed open the doors with his good arm.

Sam noticed with a start how Danny's other arm hung loosely by his side. She also noticed that a green substance flowed from the wound almost like blood would from a living person. She suspected that it was just as important to a ghost as blood was to a living human and noted with a bit of relief that the green substance had almost stopped oozing from the wound. In fact she was almost sure that the wound had been much more severe than what it was now.

She turned her attention back to the door when a warm bright light shined through it. It was the closest thing she had felt to sunlight in days.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Danny said nodding toward the opening.

"Someone to pull me through. I can't fly, remember?" Sam said with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh right, sorry," Danny said, still able to sound sheepish even through his exhaustion.

He grabbed her hand with his good one and pulled her through the door, the dog following behind. She was amazed to see the vastness of the world beyond the door. It seemed to be some sort of ancient city with adobe houses and sandstone structures here and there. In the middle of it all was an imposing edifice. It's facade covered in colorful hieroglyphs and its entrance guarded by stone sentries.

"This is your friend's home?" she asked.

"Yes, but he mainly resides over in his palace. Everything else is mostly empty," Danny said.

"I suppose the palace is the large structure with the walls around it?" Sam asked.

Danny replied with a nod. "Yeah, let's go. Hop on," Danny said jumping onto the ghost dog.

"I thought we were just using this as a shortcut? Stopping in to say hello will put us behind schedule," Sam said.

Danny fixed her with a tired look that made her wish she hadn't said anything. "I can't just jaunt through his territory without even letting him know I'm here, and besides I'm injured. I need to rest," He said with a hint of annoyance.

Sam heaved a resigned sigh and began to climb up the bulk of the green mastiff.

"Go on, Cujo. Take us to Tuck!" Danny said, gently kicking the dog's sided like one would to urge a horse forward.

Sam gave an annoyed huff when the ghost dog proceeded to move forward at an agonizingly slow pace. "Why is he going so slow?"

"He's tired, too. It takes a lot out of him to move as fast as he did to get to us back there and save us from Behemoth," Danny said slurring his words a bit.

Sam gave another sigh and shifted to make herself comfortable for the ride. After trudging through the sand and through the mostly empty city, they arrived at the facade of the palace. The two stone sentries came alive and placed their spears across the entrance.

"Relax, gentlemen. It's just me," Danny said.

After a pause the sentries moved their spears out of the way and allowed the three visitors to pass.

"I truly have seen it all," Sam muttered to herself once they were past the stone guards.

Danny gave a half-hearted chuckle. "You haven't seen anything yet."

Cujo suddenly stopped when they reached the courtyard and slowly lowered himself to the ground. He turned his head and pointedly looked at Danny with his huge red eyes.

Danny turned to Sam. "We're going to have to walk the rest of the way. Cujo is really tired."

Sam nodded and slid off the dog's back, and Danny did the same. As soon as they were off Cujo, he rolled over onto his side. Danny, with a fond smile on his face leaned down to scratch the dog under his chin. What was mild amusement that started to form on her face turned into a shock as the huge mastiff shrunk down to a normal sized puppy that looked like it was just growing into its paws.

"Oh, yeah and it really tires home to stay big, too," Danny said in amusement when he saw Sam's shock. "Now could you please give me a hand and carry him, seeing as one of mine is still out of commission."

Sam frowned at him for his joke and went to scoop up the little green puppy, finding him to be lighter than she imagined.

Following Danny, Sam walked through the courtyard, admiring the architecture and the paintings on the walls. There were several depictions of creatures with animal heads and human bodies. Sam silently hoped to herself that she wouldn't have to encounter anymore frightening anthropomorphic creatures for a while at least.

Danny, Sam and the sleeping puppy in the latter's arms finally came to the doors of the palace only to have them thrown open suddenly. A dark skinned boy with a slight frame and expensive looking adornments appeared in the doorway and came bounding down the steps toward Danny. The boy was wearing a head dress of some sort and was bare chested. Sam supposed he was the 'Tuck' Danny had been referring to.

"Daniel, my friend! I knew I had sensed your energy when you entered my domain!" The boy said, enfolding Danny in a hug.

Danny gave a short yelp of pain. With a concerned expression, the boy let go of Danny and stepped back. "I am sorry, my friend. I did not mean to hurt you. Are you unwell?"

"It's all right, Tuck," Danny said with a wan smile. "It's just a flesh wound." He uncovered the wound he had been holding, and Sam was confused to see that it was hardly worse than just that, a flesh wound. Even all of the green substance was gone, perhaps having been absorbed back into his body.

"Ah, that's good," Tuck said patting Danny on the shoulder.

He looked past Danny and saw Sam, flashing what he must have thought was a charming smile at her. She glared. "And who is this fine lady?" he asked. He walked past Danny, who was giving him a warning look, to Sam and grabbed her hand, forcing her to shift the sleeping puppy in her arms. "Oh, fine mistress, whose face shines like a polished pearl and has hair as dark as obsidian, please speak your name." He then kissed her hand, making Sam hiss in disgust and yank back her offended appendage.

"My name is Sam," she said tersely.

"I wouldn't bother her Tuck. She can be...disagreeable," Danny said.

"Disagreeable? What is that supposed to mean?" Sam snapped.

"Don't mind Daniel. The poor boy never learned how to act around beautiful such as yourself," Tuck said, whispering conspiratorially.

Danny mumbled, "And you did?" and was promptly ignored.

"Now allow me to introduce myself," Tuck continued with a bow. "My name is King Delamun, Pharaoh of Egypt, or at least I was until I died tragically at fourteen. Now I am stuck here, waiting to be reborn."

"That is truly fascinating," Sam said, her words dripping with sarcasm, "but could you please show us inside. I'm sure me and my party would like a place to rest."

"Oh, yes, of course, where are my manners." He clapped his hands and the unmoving statues by the door came to life. "Take my very tired friend and his lovely lady to a suitable room where they may rest."

At that the sentries stepped forward and picked up both Danny and Sam. "I would prefer to walk, thank you!" Sam said squirming in the statue's stone arms.

"My apologies." Tuck—or Delamun said and clapped his hands again. The statue gently set her back on her feet.

The statues began moving forward, Danny still held in the arms of one of them, looking like he would fall asleep at any moment. King Delamun walked beside them.

Sam looked over to the pharaoh. "I have a question," she said.

"Ask away, Lady Sam," he drawled.

"Why does Danny call you Tuck? It seems like a rather silly name for a king," she said.

He frowned slightly. "It is, and that is why only Daniel can use it." He turned to her with an almost sheepish look. "It's a bit of an inside joke, anyway."

"Yeah I started calling him that because of that time—" Danny started to say.

"Do not tell her!" The boy king suddenly shouted.

Danny just giggled and retreated back into the arms of the animated statue.

"Oh, and look we're here!" Delamun said a little too eagerly.

The sentry pushed open the door which was just as great and grand as any other door in this ostentatious place was. The one carrying Danny stepped inside and laid Danny down on the bed while the other stood by the door. Sam came in and put the sleeping green puppy down on the bed beside Danny and took a seat on the edge.

"Your sleeping quarters are right next door to the left," King Delamun pointed out. "Is there anything I can get you? I would get my personal servant, Hotepra, to get it for you, but I have no idea where that fool went off to."

"No, thank you. I'm quite fine," Sam said stifling a yawn. She hadn't realized how tired she was, though she felt slightly guilty, seeing as she had done noting in the way of earning it like Danny had.


End file.
